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Nigerian fintech Nearpays was voted the best of African startups at the just ended GITEX Africa Supernova Challenge Competition, one of the highpoints of the maiden Gitex Africa conference and expo organised by the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) in Marrakech, Morocco from 31 May – 2 June.
Watch Nearpays receiving the $10,000 award.
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Nearpays, a full-service financial payment platform that acts as an end-to-end financial service for all its clients, emerged winner in the Fintech and Blockchain Technology Category to grab the $10,000 prize.
The Supernova had $100,000 for grabs for five category winners ($10,000 each) as well as one overall winner to take home $50,000.
Overall GITEX Africa Supernova Champion
Proxgy (Everywhere as a Service P. Ltd.) was voted the overall GITEX AFRICA Supernova Challenge and took home the $50,000 reward.
“Winning has heightened our enthusiasm and increased our opportunities at Nearpays and other startups in Nigeria,” said Nearpays founder Victor Daniyan to IT Edge News.Africa.
He said the event has brought powerful exposure to mentors, prospective investors and partners that Nearpays could leverage on to further expand, and improve on its simplified and secured online payments.
Touted as the world’s largest and most-inclusive startup event in Africa, the startup section of GITEX Africa hosted over 400 global startups, 250 leading investors & VCs, and 250 speakers all drawn from more than 95 countries. The main event itself recorded over 20,000 participants including conference delegates, exhibitors and trade visitors.
The Supernova Categories
Cybersecurity – $10,000, focusing on the startup’s product or service with the best profile in incident response, security protocol implementation to mitigate cyber threats, cyberattacks and data breaches across the sectors of BFSI, telecommunications and government.
The AI and Digital Cities– $10,000, the winner is best at redefining Africa’s public digital landscape, ensuring a brighter, more digitally inclusive future. The startup’s product or service must explore the limitless possibilities of generative AI and be able to showcase how the technology can drive growth and development across the continent.
The Fintech and Blockchain – $10,000; for this category, the winner must be a fintech startup transforming the financial landscape in Africa, from mobile money to blockchain-based platforms – Nearpays was voted winner in this category.
The Healthtech – $10,000; here, the winner must demonstrate a solution leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as AI, wearables, and telemedicine to revolutionize healthcare delivery and improve patient outcomes.
The Sustainability and Agritech – $10,000, the winner must be able to utilize technology to solve social challenges including energy and environmental fields, or showcase a product or service in tech-enabled sustainable development.
The Overall GITEX Africa Supernova Champion – $50,000; to clinch this, the winner must be voted as having the most innovative, creative and groundbreaking idea of all startups pitching at the GITEX Africa Supernova Challenge – Proxgy emerged as the Overall GITEX Africa Supernova Champion. The technology aggregator works in the field of creative near World technology solutions which ease the day to day issues of its users and let them explore a whole new World of opportunities and possibilities. Proxgy is involved in IoT, AI and NLP to provide its customers a niche and innovative Experiential Discovery platform in a live and assisted manner.
